Alistair Ian Cragg

Alistair Cragg 2011

Alistair Ian Cragg (born June 13, 1980 in Johannesburg ) is a former Irish long-distance runner of South African origin.

Life

The great-grandson of Irish immigrants was granted dual citizenship as a child at the request of his parents. His father was a successful long-distance runner and coach, and his son was also successful early on in this discipline, starting as a junior for South Africa at the World Cross Country Championships in 1998 in Marrakech and 1999 in Belfast .

He then received an athletic scholarship from Southern Methodist University . However, he only had the breakthrough after he moved to the University of Arkansas , where he was supervised by coach John McDonnell. In 2002 he decided to compete for Ireland in the future, and in the same year he finished eighth at the European Cross Country Championships in Medulin .

After graduating from university, he became a professional athlete. In 2004 he finished 16th at the Cross Country World Championships in Brussels on the short distance, was Irish champion over 1500 m and came twelfth at the Olympic Games in Athens over 5000 m .

The following year he won gold over 3000 m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Madrid . Over the same distance he finished fourth at the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow . At the European Championships in Gothenburg he reached the final over 5000 m. There he took the lead in the last third, but then had to retire with an Achilles tendon injury.

In 2007 he was sixth over 3000 m at the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham , but was eliminated at the World Championships in Osaka over 5000 m in the preliminary run. At the Olympic Games in Beijing , he competed both over 1500 m and 5000 m. While he did not get beyond the prelim on the shorter distance, he qualified for the final on the longer one, but this time again he did not reach the finish.

At the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, he failed over 5000 m in the preliminary round. In 2010 he finished seventh in the New York City Half Marathon . At the European Championships in Barcelona he was again in the lead in the 5000 meter final after 3200 m, but then fell back to last place over the next one and a half laps and gave up again. At the 2011 World Championships , he was fourteenth. The following year at the Olympic Games in London he could not reach the final.

Personal bests

• 1500 m: 3: 36.18 min, May 20, 2007, Carson
• 1 mile (hall): 3: 55.04 min, January 21, 2006, Fayetteville
• 3000 m: 7: 32.49 min, July 25, 2007, Monaco (Irish record)
  • Hall: 7: 38.59 min, February 14, 2004, Fayetteville
• 5000 m: 13: 07.10 min, July 21, 2007, Brasschaat (Irish record)
  • Hall: 13: 28.93 min, March 14, 2003, Fayetteville
• 10,000 m : 27: 39.55 min, April 29, 2007, Palo Alto (Irish record)
• Half Marathon : 1:01:58 am, March 21, 2010, New York City

Web links

Commons : Alistair Cragg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Alistair Cragg in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Ready for take-off , portrait of Ian O'Riordan in the Irish Times , 2004